


Hidden Talents

by Penthesilea1623



Series: Battle Maiden [3]
Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Alistair's in awe of his new companion, F/M, Fluff, Knitting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 08:11:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16850377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penthesilea1623/pseuds/Penthesilea1623
Summary: Alistair is in awe of his new companion. His new leader.She's beautiful, a skilled warrior, a diplomat. She funny even. And she's constantly surprising him with new talents.Is there anything she can't do?





	Hidden Talents

There didn’t seem to be anything Nell Cousland couldn’t do. 

Alistair had suspected it from the first day he’d met her, when he’d taken her and those two other poor sods into the Kokari Wilds to get the darkspawn blood for the Joining.

She was absolutely deadly with a sword, and had a positively brilliant mind for battle strategy – for any kind a strategy really. With just a word or a smile she could charm even the most difficult people. Leading came as naturally to her as breathing, which he supposed made sense, seeing how she’d been trained by her parents to do just that practically from the time she could walk.

He wondered if he’d be the same if he’d been raised as a noble. Probably not. Look at Cailan – Nell was ten times the leader he had been and he’d spent his whole life being taught to rule. It must be a combination of her upbringing and all the extraordinary talents the Maker had seen fit to bestow on her.

She was beautiful, and kind and understanding, and she was funny as well, still able to see the humor in almost any situation in spite of what had happened to her family. 

Nothing was beyond her. She seemed to be able to do absolutely anything she set her mind to.

So he didn’t know why it came as a surprise to him that she knew how to knit.

Wynne had coaxed Bodahn into getting her some yarn and had started knitting what he suspected was a scarf for Sten to combat the cold now that Winter was getting closer. Nell had watched her for a bit and suddenly pushed herself to her feet and gone over to Bodahn’s wagon and returned with a couple of skeins of grey yarn and what seemed like far too many knitting needles, and sitting cross legged next to Wynne had started knitting as well.

She knit with the same ruthless efficiency that she showed in everything else she did. He watched from across the fire as she and Wynne and Leliana chatted and laughed as if they were in a cozy parlor instead of camping out here in the middle of nowhere. 

An hour or two passed, and she was still knitting, though the others had turned in for the night. He moved to sit beside her and she glanced up with a warm smile before turning her attention back to her knitting. 

He recognized what she was making now. “That ’s a sock." He said.

The corner of her mouth twitched. "There’s no fooling you is there?”

“I don’t know. As focused as you were on the task I thought maybe you were knitting a new weapon to use against the darkspawn." 

She laughed. "No, just socks I’m afraid. It feels nice to use my hands for something other than fighting though.”

He shook his head. “I never pictured you knitting somehow. It seems far too mundane a task for our fearless leader. Tell me, is there anything you can’t do?" 

"Sure." She admitted freely. 

He gave a small snort of disbelief. "Name one.”

“I’ll name three: I can’t sing, I can’t walk properly in high-heeled shoes and I’ve never been able to do a really good cartwheel." She finished casting off the final row as she spoke.

"Well, I can see how that might hold you back in life. Especially the cartwheel thing. I hear that’s part of the Landsmeet now. You don’t do a proper cartwheel they don’t let you in and you have to give up all your lands and retire in disgrace to the Bannorn.”

She just smiled. “I happen to like the Bannorn. And you’ll come visit me, right?”

“Sure, if only to flaunt the fact that my cartwheels are flawless. You do know you’ve made that sock far too large? You really aren’t perfect at all are you?” He said with a grin.

“I never claimed to be.” She tossed the sock so it landed in his lap. “It’s for you actually." She pushed herself to her feet. "If you're good I’ll even make you a mate for it tomorrow night. Sweet dreams, Alistair." She said and disappeared into her tent.

He stared after her for a minute and then down at the sock. He pulled off his boot and the ratty hole-filled sock he had on and slipped on the new one.

It fit perfectly.

Of course.

**Author's Note:**

> I've got some inspiration photos and such relating to Battle Maiden on my tumblr. You can link directly to them here:  
> [Battle Maiden photo/style references](http://penthesilea1623.tumblr.com/search/battle+maiden)


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